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Author: Navaal Mahdi

Sales Tax & Use Tax: What’s the Difference?

Posted on by Navaal Mahdi

We’ve covered the recent Sales & Use Tax updates after the South Dakota v. Wayfair case on our blog in the past (check out our three posts: South Dakota v. Wayfair: What Does This Mean for Online Retailers?, New Hampshire’s Take On the Wayfair Decision, and How the Wayfair Decision Affects Maryland Businesses). With our upcoming seminar and webinar, Sales and Use Tax After the Wayfair Case, we thought we would get down to the basics: what’s the difference between sales tax and use tax?

Because we have to pay it on most purchases, it’s pretty easy to understand that sales tax is a percentage of the sale price of goods and certain services that will be used, stored, or consumed in the same place that item or service is purchased. Buyers pay sales tax to retailers who then pay it to the state — and sometimes the county or city too.

The concept of use tax is a little more complicated. Buyers must pay use tax on purchases that are subject to sales tax, but are not charged sales tax. This means that if a buyer purchases goods or certain services by a seller who is located outside of the state that they reside in, they must pay tax on it. Though sales tax is usually paid by a consumer, use tax can be levied against a seller or consumer.

Consumer and seller use tax is also different. When consumers make an out-of-state purchase over the Internet, phone, or even in person, and they are not charged sales tax on the item, they are responsible for reporting and paying use tax on the transaction. Consumers would not be charged sales tax on a purchase if that company doesn’t have nexus in the state they reside in. (A nexus is a presence which is established if the company has a physical location, employees, or if they own delivery vehicles in a particular state.) In this instance, retailers don’t have to collect sales tax on the goods or services they are selling, but buyers have to pay consumer use tax.

Seller use tax applies when sales are made to buyers or businesses located outside of the state that the seller has nexus in. Use tax needs to be paid by retailers on inventory purchased without sales tax if they use that inventory at a later time.

The complexity of sales and use tax comes down to the state where the law originates. For more information about how we deal with sales and use tax in Maryland, don’t forget to sign up for the MSATP Sales and Use Tax After the Wayfair Case seminar and webinar on September 25!

MSATP Past President Bill Feehley, CPA, will be teaching the course in Owings Mills, MD, and will be discussing nexus issues for surrounding states, determining when sales tax should be charged and collected from customers in neighboring states, issues related to non-compliance, the Supreme Court’s decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, and more. Seats will fill up quickly, so sign up now!

#TechTips: Getting Into the Nitty Gritty with Sales Tax Apps

Posted on by Navaal Mahdi

By Jonathan Rivlin for MSATP

This post will focus on the exciting world of sales taxes — we’ll leave their oft-forgotten friend use tax for another post.

NOTE: This post was written before the US Supreme Court’s Wayfair decision; as of now, Quill is still the law of the land. And that land includes some 10,000 taxing jurisdictions!

It’s not that we don’t want to comply, it’s just that with the lack of uniformity in what is taxable, what the rate is, what the frequency of measurement is, whether it’s cash or accrual, what type of registration is required, and how payment is to be made (electronic or paper), AND whatever you think you know today will be obsolete tomorrow, compliance is, in a word, difficult.

When your humble Tech Tips was entering the profession in the 90’s, this was not an issue. Our retail clients didn’t have to worry about nexus with other states. Nexus back then was a hair product. (Yes, I know that product is spelled “Nexxus,” but you get the point.)

So, sales tax: don’t worry, there’s an app for that.

Both QBO and Xero (See prior post on Xero) have sales tax modules built into them, but that’s not enough. These ledger based modules will help you calculate which sales are sales taxable, what rates apply (provided you know what rates to use), and what jurisdictions to remit to, provided that you know this and manually update it yourself.

As limited as this is, it is a mandatory first step.

Now, having gotten that groundwork set out, we can look at some purpose built sales tax apps that can snap into your cloud based ledger.

We’ll look at two: Avalara and TaxJar.

Avalara and Intuit seem to be kindred spirits. Avalara does not publish rates on its website — instead, would-be clients are instructed to contact them for a quote. In this modern age, this is where the decision should stop. This tactic may have worked prior to the Cloud, but in today’s environment it has the veneer of something less than trustworthy.

TaxJar and Xero also seem to be kindred spirits. TaxJar and Xero are native to the Cloud — they were built for the modern way of transacting and computing. Both TaxJar and Xero publish their rates on their website: you know what you’re getting when you pay. You can sign up yourself, on your time, without hassle or the pleasant experience of being upsold.

Both TaxJar and Avalara will calculate your sales tax and assist with filings and registrations. Both sites offer state registration services for varying price levels. Both sites offer a resource library that appears to be available to the public without charge, which is very helpful! There’s a certain commoditization at work here.

Our decision was to use TaxJar, and here’s why:

1) Pricing was transparent (See above and also the previous article on Xero)
2) The “partner agreement” didn’t require us to violate the AICPA’s code of professional ethics. Let’s elaborate on this:

The new way of doing business involves the accounting firm establishing a relationship with a given app provider, be it Xero or Intuit, TaxJar or Avalara, or what have you. These companies offer (often require) some level of training to ensure that each accounting partner knows how to use their system. This is a little patronizing, but it is important.

These apps also have different partner levels (bronze, silver, gold, platinum, etc) based on the number of clients a given firm puts on a specific app. Discounts on per client monthly fees can be had once certain benchmarks are hit. These apps also have agreements that firms need to adhere to.

And then we come to Avalara’s partner agreement.

Avalara’s partner agreement required us to create and submit a marketing plan to Avalara for review, and they would punish us if we failed to meet the benchmarks set out in our plan. Avalara in a sense was inserting themselves into our business and making us responsible for growing their business. No other app does this! When I took issue with this to the sales rep that we contacted, I was told that it wasn’t really enforced and no other accounting firms had ever questioned it; they just sign up, and couldn’t I just sign up already? Why was I bothering her with my questions? (Us CPAs and our questions…)

I realize that not all readers of this column are CPAs, but for those readers that are CPAs, and for any other practitioner that is governed by some regulatory body (attorneys, EA’s, licensed tax preparers, etc), we are governed by a code of professional conduct that requires us to remain in compliance and good stead with any contracts we enter into.

In the 90’s and Aught’s, this meant that we had to be honest about how many user licenses we needed to disclose to Intuit; that we couldn’t use the same copy of Office for all of our work stations. Not that anyone has ever done that — by the way, doing something like this is a felony, and it’s also grounds for being thrown out of the profession.

So, back to Avalara and their partner agreement: If you want to keep your license to practice (and I know that’s a tough call after the new tax law), I would strongly suggest not obligating yourself to an overly invasive, difficult-to-comply-with software license agreement.

I can’t tell you what to do. What I can provide are some alternative perspectives for a given situation, or as Obi Wan Kenobi would say, “…a certain point of view.”

There are surprisingly few absolute right or wrong, yes or no decisions. For us, it comes down to who we want to spend our time with. What do we value as a firm? How would we want to be treated? How do our clients want to be treated? Our firm’s answers to these questions may differ from yours and that’s okay — just be clear about what your answers are and how you arrived at them.

For us, we value transparency, low-pressure sales, well-designed U/X (user interface), passion for their specialty bordering on geekiness, fantastic tech support, and an open attitude where we are treated like partners and not as marks to be milked for add on sales and hidden fees.

That’s why we chose TaxJar over Avalara, Xero over QBO, Gusto over ADP/Paychex, and more apps that we’ll detail in subsequent posts.

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We’d like to hear from you! Please submit your own tech tips to us at techtips@msatp.org! We will award a free subscription to The Tax Book to the person who submits the best tip.

Thanks, and catch you next time!

TT

MSATP’s Favorite Podcasts

Posted on by Navaal Mahdi

A podcast is an audio show that you can listen to online — it’s basically like on-demand radio on the Internet. There are thousands of podcasts out there about various subjects, some of which include business, celebrities, professional development, news and politics, and more. They’re easily accessible both on mobile devices, and on computers (check out those links to see how you can listen to them).

On our Facebook Live last week, MSATP President Ellen Silverstein and Kait LeDonne of LeDonne Branding & Marketing discussed their favorite professional development and accounting podcasts. Check them out below!

 

Professional Development

 

1. Lewis Howes School of Greatness

The School of Greatness podcast has grown rapidly to be one of the top-ranked Business and Self-Development podcasts in iTunes. It regularly appears in the Top 50 of all iTunes podcasts, and gets downloaded over 2 million times per month.

Episodes range from interviews with incredible world-class game changers in entrepreneurship, health, athletics, mindset, and relationships, to solo rounds with the host, Lewis Howes. It’s super fun and he always features awesome guests like Tony Robbins, Alanis Morsette, and more. It’s a great leadership development podcast.

 

2. How I Built This With Guy Raz

This NPR produced podcast features founders of companies like Lyft, Lululemon, Stitch Fix, and other pioneers. There was an episode featuring Kate and Andy Spade just a few weeks before Kate’s death, and it was so incredible hearing how they built the brand together. This podcast gives you access to the top business minds, and it’s the perfect way to inspire you at the beginning of your day.

 

3. Entrepreneur on Fire

Entrepreneur on Fire, or EOFire as its fans affectionately refer to it, is hosted by John Lee Dumas. Like “How I Built This,” John features entrepreneurs and asks them about their journey. EOFire isn’t just about household business names you hear about — it’s the everyday entrepreneur he talks to, and he makes it a point to ask about their setbacks and hardest moments as a business owner. It feels real and relatable, and it reminds entrepreneurs that you aren’t alone in this journey!

 

Accounting

 

1. Bigger Pockets

The Bigger Pockets Podcast, hosted by Joshua Dorkin and Brandon Turner, is about growing wealth with smart investment. Dorkin and Turner take on investing like smarter morning drive-time guys, with wonky humor and in-your-face enthusiasm. Previous topics include negotiating (with an FBI hostage negotiator) and real estate investing. To paraphrase Chief Brody in Jaws, you’re gonna need bigger pockets – for all the money you’ll make!

 

2. Accountants Doing Cool Sh!t

This is about exactly what its title implies – accountants who are using their skills, knowledge, and creativity to do some interesting, innovative, and unusual things. Lifestyle Accountant, a worldwide networking group, provides services to accounting freelancers and entrepreneurs, including the economic podcast, populated by exciting new voices in the field.

 

3. Future of Accounting with Danetha Doe

This is a great podcast for business owners seeking to attract young professionals. Danetha Doe is one of the Millennial generation’s top thought leaders and ambassadors, attracting attention from Huffington Post, Xero, and Wells Fargo for her expertise. Her podcast, Future of Accounting, is targeted at young people heading into accounting, including students and young professionals just starting their careers. Danetha Doe doesn’t just host the Future of Accounting – she is the future of accounting.

 

4. The Abacus Show

The Abacus Show, hosted by Bob the CPA from Abacus U, brings top accounting professionals, influencers, and experts into informative, entertaining financial podcasts. Bob, whose Abacus U offers online courses in topics like resume building and using LinkedIn effectively, covers crucial issues for accountants and accounting students like joining professional organizations and going digital.

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Of course, the cool thing about podcasts is different ones appeal to different people. Do you have a podcast that you love or produce? Let us know in the comments! Plus, don’t forget to tune into our Facebook Live all about podcasts here.

9 Tips to Help You Protect Your Practice From Cybercrime

Posted on by Navaal Mahdi

It only takes one employee to jeopardize your company’s cybersecurity.

In news release IR-2018-170, the IRS has advised tax professionals to increase their security measures due to a 30% increase in reports of data thefts from last year.

Below are some tips from the IRS and its Security Summit to help you protect your practice from cybercrime:

 

  1. Before you hire a new employee who will be dealing directly with client information, conduct a background check and make sure they sign a confidentially agreement. Also ensure that they understand how to handle client information so that there is no breach in a client’s privacy.
  2. Try to limit how much contact an employee will have with your client’s information. Only give employees the minimal access they would need to complete their job.
  3. Make sure that your employees are using strong passwords, with at least 8 characters. Passwords should have both upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols.
  4. Require your employees to have a setting on their computer that will automatically lock their screen after a period of inactivity. This will require them to input their password once they are back on their computer. Also make sure that employees have software installed on their devices that will protect them from viruses, spyware, and other unauthorized intrusions.
  5. Employees should store computers and other electronic devices carefully and securely when they are not in use to minimize the amount of people that come into contact with those devices.
  6. Train your employees to lock rooms and filing cabinets where client records are stored. Make sure that if your employees are sending or storing client information electronically, all information is encrypted.
  7. Teach your employees to report all suspicious behavior online as a precaution.
  8. Ask your employees to avoid using public wifi networks when they are using a device that has client information on it.
  9. If an employee is no longer working for you, delete their user accounts on all platforms to prevent the risk of hacking and leaking client information.

 

What do you do to ensure that your client’s data is safe? Leave your tips in the comments below!

#TechTips: My Hero, Xero

Posted on by Navaal Mahdi

By Jonathan Rivlin for MSATP

In November of 2016, with the launch of my new practice, we made the decision to support a new accounting platform, Xero. I’ve been a CPA for 20 years and I’ve worked in the industry since I was 16. For me to say that I don’t support or use QuickBooks is not a small thing.

Loosely quoting Brad Pitt’s character from the movie, “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”, “I suppose at the end, you remember the beginning.” Welp; let’s take a look back in the day!

Remember when Intuit launched QuickBooks with that campaign that encouraged clients to “fire their accountants”? And many of them actually did. And then they came back — with IRS and Comptroller’s notices aplenty.

We took (some of) them back, with a charge for cleaning up their self inflicted messes.

Really — whose genius idea was it to come up with “Opening Balance Equity”? I don’t recall seeing that on the CPA exam or in any text book.

I remember getting into QuickBooks desktop with their 1998 version. Coming off paper and DOS based systems, this was a step…sideways. There wasn’t anything intuitive about QuickBooks. All pith aside, by the time the mid aughts came around, I was rocking through QuickBooks desktop and able to button up even a messy year end in short order. I was a happy accountant.

I would recommend QuickBooks to my clients and was shocked – SHOCKED – when they told me how much they hated it.

And life continued until we got to the mid-teens and suddenly the rumors of these new fangled cloud apps became such that I could no longer ignore them. In fact, it cost me a client for trying to keep my head out of the clouds.

I can’t state this strongly enough – if we are going to survive, we have to get into the cloud.

I have yet to meet an accountant that likes QuickBooks Online (a/k/a QBO). So if you’re thinking cloud accounting = QBO, think again!

I was taught that you can’t raise yourself up by putting someone down, and I don’t mean to make this post about all the ways Intuit and QBO have treated us practitioners poorly; but I wanted to make sure that you, my esteemed colleagues, know how and why we decided to become a Xero firm.

Xero is a cloud based general ledger program from an upstart scrappy company based out of New Zealand. One might question how it’s possible for a non-US company to have any relevance to our systems – but think about it; we were (at different points in history) colonies of the UK; we have the same legal framework and language.

Xero presents a clean interface that is refreshing in its ease of use and merciful on your eyes. Don’t dismiss this; whatever system you’re using, you’re going to be staring at a screen, might as well choose the one that doesn’t cause unnecessary fatigue.

Xero truly is intuitive. Most tasks can be figured out on the fly, though there is a wealth of support articles and videos – both company produced and from fellow users around the globe. They even have training courses so one can be come certified in Xero. And unlike Intuit, they don’t charge for the privilege of getting this certification.

Xero’s pricing structure is as clean as it’s interface. There are a few different levels — you pick the one that’s right for you. Everything is clear up front.

As an aside, I’ve had clients tell me that they changed to QBO and were all proud of how they did it themselves. (Groan.) They mentioned that they signed up for the cheapest version. In looking into their books and fixing their inevitable messes, I found that at some point they had up-sold themselves to a higher subscription level. When I took this to them, they were incredulous until I showed them, in their own general ledger, the charges from Intuit that were well in excess of what they thought they were paying. (QBO’s interface is a mine field for the hidden upsell.)

This prompted a trip into call center hell – press 666 to speak to a concerned customer care demon – I mean person. If only we could bill these large corporations for the time spent on hold…

The point of that aside was to illustrate the difference between Intuit and Xero’s business model. Intuit is always looking for the upsell and is aggressive about selling us more and more – whether we need it or not. Xero provides a service, is damn good at it, and is up front about the cost.

Xero’s tech support is amazing! They are fast, friendly, not trying to sell you something, and they work with you to resolve whatever issue you have. Most support tickets are resolved via email – even on weekends!

Xero offers a mobile app where you can take pictures of your receipts and enter transactions on the fly. QBO offers something similar, but with Xero, it’s just easier.

Xero works with many, many apps that enhance different parts of the accounting system. QBO does this too, but with Xero, it’s just easier.

Xero links with your bank and credit card accounts to pull data into the system. The idea of performing a monthly bank reconciliation is a thing of the past. Now we reconcile daily, and it’s easy. There’s no messes to clean up because we catch issues before they get out of hand. It’s true that QBO and QB also work with bank feeds. But with Xero, it’s just easier.

At our practice, we have a “Tech Stack” (how’s that for a new bit of jargon?) that includes Xero as the center. From there we use Gusto for payroll (ADP and Paychex’ treatment of us has been similar to Intuit, but that’s for another column), Bill.com for payables, Hubdoc for document management, and Expensify for managing corporate credit cards and employee expenses. We can also plug custom apps into this cloud based environment to suit each client.

Got a client that is an auto mechanic and needs a way of matching their customer invoices with their parts and supplies bills? There’s an app for that and it plugs into Xero and takes the pain out of bookkeeping.

Now, let’s take the rose colored glasses off.

Very few things in life are purely perfect. Except for bubbles. My 4 year old loses her mind whenever she sees bubbles. Cloud based accounting apps are not bubbles.

There is a learning curve. Yes, Xero is intuitive and easy to learn, but you still have to commit to learning it. For those of us who have been doing things the Intuit way for so long, you will need to accept that there are other (and better) ways about plying our trade.

When learning something new, you – and your staff and your clients – will inevitably hit a wall. Our first instinct in these situations is to blame the software. Don’t. It’s all user error. Meaning, it’s on us. In the beginning, if something “wouldn’t work,” I would rant and rave and my brother (it’s a family practice) would roll his eyes at me.

I had to learn that if, after a minute or two, something didn’t work the way I was expecting, to either search for a help article or submit a ticket – to trust the system as it were. I can’t tell you what a relief that is! How many times have you had issues with QB or QBO and had to go through all sorts of hoops, spending untold hours on hold, (and pay) for tech support? With Xero, I know that whatever issues will arise, I’ve got a team of people that can help me – without trying to sell me something.

We’re almost through our second full year on Xero. I can’t believe I resisted changing for so long; I wish I did it sooner.

Now if Xero could come up with a cloud based tax prep app…

The MSATP is committed to leadership in the cloud technology arena. To that end, we’re working with Xero, Futrli, and other app providers to give our members specialized training and opportunities to learn more about these apps. Check out our upcoming Facebook Live chat with our Xero hero Syed Haque on 9/6/18 @ 09:00.

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We’d like to hear from you! Please submit your own tech tips to us at techtips@msatp.org! We will award a free subscription to The Tax Book to the person who submits the best tip.

Thanks, and catch you next time!

TT

Why Is America Struggling With Financial Literacy?

Posted on by Navaal Mahdi

According to PEW, the U.S. household debt has reached $13.2 trillion in the first quarter of 2018, which is higher than what it was during the 2008 financial crisis. Additionally, student loan debt has reached a record high of $1.5 trillion in the first quarter of 2018.

Does America’s increasing debt have something to do with the fact that only 17 out of the 50 states have personal finance as a prerequisite for high school graduation?

Kentucky is one of the states that’s behind in financial literacy. They have the eighth-highest personal bankruptcy rate in the U.S., with 345 bankruptcy filings per 100,000 residents.

PEW relates that last year, Kentucky’s state Treasurer Allison Ball spoke to high school seniors about credit cards and finance, but saw that the information being relayed to them was met with blank stares. She attributes that to the fact that one week before graduation, the students were unaware of what the term “interest” even meant.

In 2020, Kentucky will require incoming high school freshmen to take a financial literacy course before they graduate. In the course, students will learn how to understand and manage their credit, create a budget, take out a loan for a large purchase, and even how to save for retirement.

It took six years for Kentucky policymakers to finally bring this financial literacy measure into law. Though there are no studies to prove how financial literacy classes affect students as they transition into adulthood, Kentucky state officials are hopeful that by investing in their students, they will bring about a change for the state’s financial status.

Maryland is one of the states whose Board of Education, in 2011, set financial literacy standards for grades 3 through 12. However, whether or not these standards are implemented has been left up to each school district. For more information about the state of financial literacy in Maryland, tune into last week’s Facebook Live to hear from the State of MD Financial Literacy Committee.

What do you think — should financial literacy be a required high school prerequisite around the country? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

4 Characteristics Of a Successful Leader

Posted on by Navaal Mahdi

We’re surrounded by people in different industries who are successful because of the way they approach certain situations. There’s a lot we can learn from the leaders in our lives who are successful, and here are some ideas we can implement to help increase our level of success.

Successful people…

1. Keep their eyes on the big picture.

 

It’s hard to concentrate on the big picture when things go wrong and there are fires to put out. The little things don’t matter though, and focusing on them too much, especially the negative things, will make it harder to achieve your main goals. Let the little things go and instead, spend time, energy, and resources on what really matters.

 

2. Know they can’t please everyone.

Making everyone happy is impossible, so there’s no use in trying. Live a more purposeful life by not being afraid of to call the shots, even when some decisions will make some people on the team unhappy.

 

3. Don’t go back to things that haven’t worked out.

Whether it’s a project or a relationship, if something didn’t work out the first time, unless the necessary changes are made, don’t expect to see great results if you pursue it again a second time.

 

4. Don’t chase other people’s dreams.

It’s natural to see another successful person and to want to mirror their accomplishments. However, remember that dreams and goals have to be personal: “Don’t let the allure of someone else’s dream derail you from discovering yours.”

#TechTips: A Walk Through the Cloud

Posted on by Navaal Mahdi

By Jonathan Rivlin for MSATP

I’ve written a cycle of posts that will take you through the entire cloud, at least as it exists today.

Here are a couple of guiding principles to help you understand the cloud better:

  1. The new tax law is both an opportunity and a threat. For those firms with clients that can avail themselves of the new QBID, it’s an opportunity. For those firms with an abundance of Schedule A filers, it’s a tremendous threat.
  2. Whether the new tax law is a threat or an opportunity, or some combination thereof, it’s important to keep innovating and updating our service offerings and practices if we want to stay relevant.
  3. I’m speaking from hard won experience – I had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the cloud. I lost a client because I resisted going into the cloud. I’m actually not that tech savvy. If I can do this, so can you!
  4. You’re not alone! Your society – the Maryland Society of Accounting and Tax Professionals is here to help you! The MSATP has multiple programs – beyond seminars and webinars – that will be rolling out over the next 12-18 months specifically geared to helping its members adapt. That’s why the MSATP is here – to help you!
  5. If you’re facing pricing pressures in a “race to the bottom”, there are a few strategies to consider, and offering cloud based accounting services is a corner stone of these enhanced service offerings.
  6. The days of selecting a software platform (Lacerte, Drake, UltraTax) and “setting it and forgetting it” are over. The apps you adopt today may or may not necessarily be the apps you’re using 5 years from now. This is both good and annoying. Good in that (in theory) we’ll be using apps that deliver value and make our lives easier. Annoying in that we have to always be on the look out for these new apps.
  7. The ideas, opinions, and suggestions expressed in these Tech Tips posts are not necessarily the opinions of the MSATP or it’s Board of Directors – they are mine alone. I offer these posts for educational purposes.
  8. I recommend reading “The Radical CPA” by Jody Padar, CPA and her sequel, “From Success to Significance: The Radical CPA Guide”. While I don’t agree with everything she says, she has done what we’re doing at our firm, and what the rest of us need to start doing.
  9. One of Jody’s recommendations in her books is to dedicate someone in your firm to do the R&D (finding/testing/vetting/implementing) new apps; that change should be our constant. I realize that many MSATP members may not have the resources to appoint someone in their firm to this task. That is why I wrote the cycle of 12 posts to follow.
  10. The posts to follow will detail the apps we use in our firm, how we found them, why we selected them, what their features and costs are, and ways to implement them into your practice.

Expanding on #5 above; ways to manage the downward pressure on pricing brought about by the combination of TurboTax and the new tax law, here are a few ideas:

  1. Focus on U/X (user experience). Yes, a client can do their own return, but what do they really get out of this? When you prepare their return, you’re not selling the return, you’re selling the warm and fuzzy feeling they get when you sign their return.
  2. Your commitment to CPE and professional ethics, your fiduciary responsibility to the client is the most valuable part of what you do – but only if you tell your clients you do this.
  3. We are our client’s personal “Google Search”. clients have questions, being able to answer those questions takes time and costs us money. True, the client can go to Google for free; but we’re not taking their data, we’re not trying to sell them everything under the sun, and we are legally and ethically bound to give them the most accurate information. No free service can do this!
  4. Expand your service offerings to include wealth management services. After 18 years of practice, I sat for the Series 7 exam. The following year I sat for the Series 66 and insurance exams. True, it was intimidating sitting for a professional exam after so much time since the exam to end all exams, but it was worth it. The rigor of studying for these exams helped in my tax practice, and the wealth management services provides a different source of revenue. True, there are regulatory annoyances with FINRA and the SEC, but there are no collections issues. The Broker/Dealer takes care of that for us. If you’re concerned about your age, I would point you towards my own father who’s commitment to education, certification, and technology has been an inspiration and motivation for me. At the big convention in Ocean City, everyone was asked to state how long they’d been in practice. My father was the second most veteran member there; only being beaten by one year. He’s living proof that it can be done, and if we’re to survive, it needs to be done. Think about all the changes he’s seen in the past 46 years. When viewed in that context, the new tax law is just another one of those things to manage.
  5. Consider novel ways of getting clients. For example, you can form alliances with attorneys to provide tax advice for divorce and bankruptcy settlements.
  6. Expanding on novel ways and using the cloud – you are no longer limited to a pool of clients in one geographic location. Your clients can literally be anywhere in the world – all you and they need are decent internet connections (and secure passwords).
  7. Consider remote work for other accounting firms. Firms of all sizes are having trouble retaining talent. There are sites like https://accountingfly.com/ that help accountants with extra time capacity match up with firms who have projects.

For those of us in areas where you can’t just jettison the type of demographic that is price conscious, the only way through this is to adapt. You can try some of the methods above, or create your own. Whatever you do, if you want to stay in this industry, you can’t stand still.

You will always have my compassion and concern. But you have to meet me half way. Reach out to the MSATP and get involved with our programs. We’ll get through this together!

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We’d like to hear from you! Please submit your own tech tips to us at techtips@msatp.org! We will award a free subscription to The Tax Book to the person who submits the best tip.

Thanks, and catch you next time!

TT

MSATP’s Business Builders ThinkTank

Posted on by Navaal Mahdi

Running an accounting and tax business can be difficult. Between managing personnel matters, data security, business operations, and legislative compliance, it’s easy to feel buried or isolated. That’s why MSATP is excited to announce our latest professional and business development initiative: The Business Builders ThinkTank.

The ThinkTank is a group similar to a CEO peer group, designed to create a space where business owners can connect with each other to discuss and work through challenges. The ThinkTank will create an environment that will help enhance the quality of everyone’s business. Group members will share the problems they encounter, and others will share how they have resolved them in the past.

The intention of the ThinkTank is to always move the conversation forward. So instead of leaning into “This isn’t working or why this won’t work,” the way to approach a situation will be by asking, “How do we create this in a way that is workable for your firm?” This way, challenges won’t become roadblocks to growth, but instead, just obstacles that you can push through together. 

Three inaugural groups will be set up: BWI, Baltimore County, and Montgomery County. Each group will have 8-10 participants who are committed to meeting on the third Thursday of every month, from 8 – 9:30 a.m. The meetings will take place in the off-season, between May-November, for a total of 7 meetings.

Participants are required to attend 5 out of 7 meetings. If they miss more than 2, we will ask that they turn their seat over to someone else. This will help maintain integrity in the space and build trust amongst participants.

MSATP Second Vice President Richard Gottfried, Treasurer Donya Oneto, and CPR Committee Chair Tom Bray will initially be leading these groups. They will identify participants who have a desire to become group leaders and facilitators, and then train them to do so.

We’re so excited to start this initiative! If you are interested in participating, you can register on our website here. If you have any questions, you can email info@msatp.org, or call us at 1-800-922-9672.

For more information, tune into our Facebook Live from last week. President Ellen Silverstein was joined by Donya and Tom for a rundown on the ThinkTank initiative. Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you can get notifications every time we upload a new video.

Taking Initiative at Work (Without Being Taken Advantage Of)

Posted on by Navaal Mahdi

Working closely with a team has its ups and downs. It can be great to have people to bounce ideas off of and to work with on projects, but at the same time, there may be days when your productivity decreases due to someone else not pulling their weight.

It happens all the time, and it’s not always because your coworkers are lazy — sometimes they just have too much on their plate at once. You may be wondering how, if you see someone on your team struggling, you can offer your help without taking the task over completely and having to do their work on top of what’s been assigned to you. Here’s how you can find that balance:

 

1. Keep doing your best.

Mediocrity might seem like an easy way to avoid having other people approach you for help, but don’t be fooled. Not only will you be preventing yourself from reaching your fullest potential, which could turn into a bad habit in the long run, but you could also put your job at risk. Never compromise on the kind of work you do!

 

2. Make expectations clear.

It’s good to be a leader, but pushing yourself to always take charge may put the idea in your coworker’s minds that you’re the person who will always cover for them if they’re falling behind. It’s best to work with your team to figure certain parts of the project rather than calling the shots yourself. If your performance is being affected by the lack of cooperation on the team though, it may be time to alert your supervisor, and maybe under their guidance you can take a little bit more of a leadership role on the project.

 

3. Be confident in your abilities.

We sometimes take on more than we can handle because we’re worried that our performance isn’t “good enough.” If you know that you’re submitting your best work, allow yourself to be proud of what you’ve accomplished and remind yourself that if you’re impressed with the work you’ve done, that’s all that matters. You don’t have to take on someone else’s workload to prove your worth!

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